I've started a new astronomy podcast. Your opinion is requested!

[MikeWilson]

... by uh, me and a friend called Dave ...

I've always been interested in astronomy, but it was a few years ago when some old gaming friends of mine (co-incidentally from SGL) whose own interest in astronomy gave me the push I needed to get involved. I haven't been posting much on SGL for a few months as work (and poor weather for astronomy) has kept me busy and now this project

The show is called "2020 Astro" and like the name suggests, it's a fun and small 20 minute podcast and it's published once a month. It's recorded live in a pub too! Not dry as dust, nor boring and it's aimed to educate the beginner and entertain the rest

We're completely new to this and have been planning it since the start of the year, so any comments or criticism is welcome if it can help us improve the show.

You can find the show on Facebook, @2020Astro, YouTubeand iTunesas well as via our website at www.2020astro.com.

If you like it; please like, subscribe or comment and pass it on.

We're doing this for the love of astronomy and it's awfully good fun if very hard work!

Episode 2:

Episode 1:

Thanks for listening!

Mike

P.S. I've attached a few pictures from the last time we recorded - it always helps to put a picture to a name, I think!

[JohnC]

Like this.

Thank you for posting.

[fredster]

Very good.....thumbs up

[SteveNickolls]

Another 'thumbs up' guys-well done. The pub theme is a good choice, coming over as a conversation with more knowledgeable friends over a couple of pints (and a pizza). Your style is very engaging and relaxed making the podcast enjoyable. Will look out for further podcasts.

Cheers,

Steve

[Distorted Vision]

Hi Mike,

I've been listening to the podcast and I'd like to offer some feedback:

1. I find it too short. Although 20 minutes would be fine if the podcast was fortnightly rather than monthly.
   
2. I sometimes find it hard to listen to with the background noise with it being recorded in a pub.
   
3. I prefer practical hands on astronomy content and I like the reviews.
   
4. Would you consider doing a Q&A feature for beginners like me?
   

Overall I do like the podcast and I found there was a shortage of practical amateur astronomy podcasts from the UK.

Best wishes.

[Steve]

Kudos to you both for having a go

I haven't had an opportunity to listen yet but am a fan of podcasts so have downloaded them for my next car journey.

[MikeWilson]

Thank you everyone for your kind words.

@Steve: Please let us know what you think! Car journey-listenable is what we aimed for, we reckon an hour's too long to listen in one go.

@DistortedVision: Thanks for the feedback! A lot of other podcasts out there we found too long and came up with the idea for 20 minutes, the idea being that if one wanted to listen to 40 minutes or so, one could listen to two podcasts. They hopefully stay relevant and not dated. Fortnightly is a possibility once we've got the production time down. We'll also aim to control the background noise better too and concentrate on having at least one practical hands on item in the episode. Q&A is welcome, although you will get quicker answers to your questions here on SGL - there's no better online forum for astronomers in the world than SGL, in my opinion! It certainly helped me a lot when I was starting out but yes please do fire away and we'll do our best on the show! If you have any questions at all, we may even make a segment/topic around them.

@SteveNickolls: Thank you. Our aim was to go for warm & engaging. Funnily enough it really is an enjoyable conversation, we just need to make sure the bar level of noise is controlled a bit better at times I think!

@fredster & @JohnC: Cheers If you like it, please feel free to subscribe and/or 'like' on one of the mediums like YouTube or leave an iTunes review.

I really appreciate the feedback everyone. We're both totally new at doing this and hope to improve in future episodes and we've even got some "special" episodes planned which I think you'll all like, including some 60 minute shows :-)

All the best,

Mike

[sallystar]

I loved it!

It was fun and a pleasure to listen to. I'm an absolute beginner and hearing someone talk about topics in a lighthearted way made everything so easy to understand.

I'm looking forward to next months installment now.

keep it up!

[notaclue]

Will watch later and give a helpful opinion on your youtube podcasts.

But for now it is a good idea and hopefully it will not falter when it becomes to feel like a chore.

[Matthew]

Nice one mike,i enjoyed it

[MikeWilson]

@sallystar: I'm really humbled that you loved it. Wow, I wasn't expecting that! You're definitely who we're looking to reach, a beginner looking to learn more about practical astronomy. We're hoping to do more than one a month once we've got better at producing it, sorting out audio gremlins, etc. Plus laptops, wires, cables and beer don't always mix and we really are in a busy pub so anything can happen!

@notaclue: Looking forward to hearing your thoughts. I too hope it won't feel like a chore down the line, we've got plenty of ideas to keep it interesting for at least the first season .

@Matthew: Glad you liked it! The opinion of the seasoned knowledgeable amateur means a lot to us.

Co-incidentally, Dave was on the radio today - BBC Solent called him this morning and he rushed into the studio in under an hour to talk about the Orion Capsule and the podcast got a mention which was really nice of them.

Thanks again,

Mike

[buzzc150]

Just in case anyone missed it, Astronomy Cast is a long running weekly podcast available on i-tunes and others for free. It's an excellent excellnt resource.

[MikeWilson]

Yep, the Astronomy Cast is a good show. Hard to miss on iTunes since it's right at the top and appears to be perpetually featured

[Woodsey65]

Ah yes, but we're British! :-)

[Naemeth]

Listening now, very interesting . Will know more once I've actually listened to both of the episodes up now. (I've also subscribed for now)

[DustInMyEyes]

Subscribed, very much looking forward to future episodes. Great work!

[Naemeth]

Listened to the first two, and have to say they're great, although 20 minutes feels very short.

[jflowers]

Excellent! subscribed

[Woodsey65]

The idea of doing 20 minute podcasts is that we can produce more higher quality episodes. We are planning some longer 'specials'. We have found many people skip through 60 minute podcasts, or listen to them in parts. As we tighten up our production we will be increasing the shows. It's all down to how much people like what we do.

Thanks for the feedback so far and keep it coming. We will be doing more book, Apps, software and telescope reviews!

[mikehab]

Just listened to Episode 1 - nice - very enjoyable Can't find anyway to download the podcast episodes from the www.2020astro.com website though - it would be good to be able to download the podcast to my phone so I can listen to it on my commute...

Thanks,

Mike

[swamp thing]

I like a nice lighthearted approach like this. Good stuff.

[Mike73]

Very good guys, nice work!!

Like the way its recorded in a pub as well, gives it a relaxed setting.

[Black Knight]

Great stuff, very enjoyable Mike. The conversational style makes it friendly and accessible, and I found that 20 minute format worked very well. Are you planning on doing any video specials? Very well done, and I hope it all goes well for the future.

[Chris]

Thumbs up, it works really well, really easy to listen to:)

[MikeWilson]

Thank everyone for your kind words.

We've been recording little video snippets but nothing serious so far - watch this space (pardon the pun!).

I will ensure there are visible download links too on each episodes show notes - a good suggestion for offline mobile listening without iTunes.

It's your show too so please don't be shy in saying what you like and dislike about it.

Thanks again everyone, your feedback means a great deal to me!

All the best,

Mike

Sent from my mobile using TapaTalk (so please excuse bad grammar & spelling!) :-)